The heat was on.

The last 12 plus days have been a little trying, for Golf Course Superintendents.  I can only speak for myself but I know I checked the weather probably 25 times a day for those 12 days.   The only problem, it’s the weather it is very unpredictable. “It is what it is” this was uttered quite often by me, and that about sums it up.

I am happy to report that the turf at the Parkway preformed very good.   It is Saturday night and I just finished an hour tour of the property and I am quite pleased with what I see.  There is no doubt that the course was under stress.  But, that is to be expected the last seven days alone the temperature never dropped below 23 C and it was 100% humidity every night.  Several times in the last week we had late afternoon or early even rain showers.  This is one the worst things that can happen.  The turf is wet for too long and the fungus takes over. If you were out on Tuesday you saw this first hand.  I call that “lit up”.

Pythium in the newly seede bluegrass on 15 tee complex

Pythium in the morning

Pythium in the afternoon

The routine is simple when we get into those hot stretches.  Water only when needed, by hand and never at night.  Watch everything, the more eyes the better.  If you played this week you probably noticed a lot of irrigation flags on the fairways.  These were marked by Ruth the Assistant Golf Course Superintendent.  She would scout for the disease and then mark it for me to check out and spray.  The answer is yes there were a lot of flags and they were on every hole.  

The next week the temperatures look better and the night time temperatures look even better.

 

Oh I almost forgot about #12.  When it seemed like we were pushed to the limit with disease, and the staff had had just about enough.  The greens mower blew a hydraulic line.  As most of you seen as you play Wednesday and Thursday.  My staff and I really appreciate the sympathy from the marjority of the membership.  We appreciate all the comments.  It is discouraging when something like this happens, but with a little hard work and sweat the team plugged out the injuried turf.  Hopefully with in a week it will be barely noticable.  To the one group of members that were more concerned about how the flag was the wrong colour for 5 minutes well "It is what it is."

Oil leak on #12

 

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me.  If you have sent me something, dont't worry I will be responding as soons as possible.

kendalllindsay@hotmail.com 

Cheers Kendall